Treehugger‘s Great Prefab Debate is set for today at 3:30 p.m. EDT, so bookmark this page and come back. You can watch live and submit comments. This will be an old fashioned debate for the resolution that “prefabrication is a greener way to build.” Michelle Kaufmann, Michelle Kaufmann Studio, will speak for the resolution, and Chad Ludeman, Postgreen Homes, will speak in opposition. Then there will be questions, conclusions, judges remarks, and some final wrap up for audience voting.

OgilvyEarth, a sustainability consultancy, studied the mainstream consumer and posted some fascinating research. Specifically, 82% of Americans have good green intentions, while only 16% of Americans are firmly dedicated to fulfilling those green intentions — leaving 66% in the middle, the “Middle Green,” wanting to do more but not getting it done. This deficiency between intent and action — the Green Gap — is explained with some firm solutions in a 131-page reported called Mainstream Green.

Ecosistema Urbano, an agency that runs a website on the topic of “creative urban sustainability,” recently listed the top environmentally-responsible design blogs with this site included. EU also published the Prezi above saying Jetson Green is a “blogger and tweeter extraordinaire … [that] brings followers the latest strategies for building sustainable homes with natural materials and green technologies.” Here are the other four:

The U.S. market for small wind turbines — those rated 100 kilowatts or less — grew 15% in 2009 with the installation of about 10,000 new units, according to the AWEA Small Wind Turbine Global Market Study in 2010. In the same report, AWEA found that the largest manufacturer of these turbines in terms of kilowatts sold is Arizona-based Southwest Windpower. I had the opportunity to email with the company’s marketing director, Miriam Robbins, and she was kind enough to share what’s new with Southwest Windpower.

I’m going to be honest, I hate my CFLs. After blowing all sorts of cash on these things, I’ve yet to find one that performs the way I’d like it to. Plus, since lighting accounts for some 11% of residential energy use on average, it’s an area that deserves attention. In doing so, I’ve been playing with various options and think LEDs may just be the ticket.

As with last year, green building consultant Jerry Yudelson published a top-ten list of green building trends for the next year. Yudelson explains that green building is growing in popularity across the globe — that “more people are going green each year, and there’s nothing on the horizon that will stop this trend.” I’ve hand-picked some of Yudelson’s trends that will apply in the residential sector below:Read more »